


Little Moments in Space

by Brieternal



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Because I like one shots and I'm too lazy to make different works for it, Drabble Collection, F/M, Mild Language, One Shot Collection, Slow To Update
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-27 08:26:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10805442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brieternal/pseuds/Brieternal
Summary: A smile, a gesture, an item, an interaction. It's the small things in life that create such fond memories, loving memories. It isn't a grand ol' gesture of love, bending down on one knee and screaming into the heavens the one that you love. It isn't a kiss, no matter how magical or passionate it is. And it isn't about thoughtful or meaningless presents. A touch of hands, bubbling laughter, a crinkled smile, and dazzling eyes, is what truly makes a memory wonderful.Small drabbles of relationships, friendships and characters of Miraculous Ladybug.





	Little Moments in Space

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all, 
> 
> I know, it's been a while since I've really posted. I would say I'm taking a 'break' from Chat Sitting ( my other work ), but it's been almost a year since I posted it. Currently, the fourth chapter is in the works ( slowly but it's still there ) but I've hit sort of a road block on where I want it to go. So while I'm figuring out what I'm going to do with that fic, I've started this one hoping that it'll get me past my roadblock! 
> 
> These are going to be mostly one shots, short or long. There might be a two shot here and there, but nothing more than a two. I don't know if I want them in chronological order yet, I might change my mind later. 
> 
> Other than that,  
> Enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miss Bustier assigns Marinette and Adrien as project buddies.

End of a school day.

 

Either one of the best or worst times of the day. Usually, it was better. 

 

_Usually._

 

Today wasn't that day. 

It  _totally_ didn't have to do with fact that Marinette felt a crippling exhaustion all day. Literally, all day. To the point where the girl didn't know  _how_ she made it on time to school. She desperately needed to talk to Papillon about turning people into akumas in the middle of the night. He really took the phrase 'No rest for the wicked' to heart. That sounded like a fantastic plan in her head. Just like going home and instantly taking a long,  _long_ nap in her bed. In her nice, warm, comfortable bed. Marinette smiled to herself in a daydreaming fashion. Yea, that sounded nice. 

But unfortunately, she still had-- Marinette glanced over at the clock at the top of the classroom -- 23 minutes left until class ended. 23 full minutes -- wait, now 22 -- until she could go home and jump in her bed. Why couldn't she just sleep on the desk? She wasn't paying any attention to anything of what Miss Bustier was saying.

What was she saying exactly, now that the baker's daughter thought about it.

Marinette sat up from her hunched spot on her desk to look at the board. Widening her eyes at first before narrowing them, Marinette tried to understand what was written on the board.

Was that Latin?

Funny, she thought they were talking about French history.

Nope, it was definitely Latin Marinette concluded.

Giving up entirely on the idea that she would understand anything at this point, Marinette shrugged and went back to her paper that she was doodling on for the rest of the 20 minutes in class to keep herself awake. She would later bribe Alya with treats in exchange of copying her notes, it wouldn't be the first time. 

At about the 15 minute point ( which took  _forever_ in Marinette's opinion, if anyone was asking ), everyone started to pack up and head home. Most of the rustling over powered whatever Miss Bustier was saying until she said 'Group project'. Everyone froze from their packing and looked at Miss Bustier with full attention, their eyes wide. 

"Everyone has one week to complete their group project with their partners. It will compromise on everything that we've been learning about France's history for the past week."

So they were talking about history!

Miss Bustier pulled out a hat from her desk and shook it, the sound of paper chaffing together. "Now, from this hat, I will pick partners and what your topic will be for your project." 

Marinette (and she was sure the rest of the class as well) sat up a bit in her chair, leaning forward on the desk as she anticipated her partner. 

_Anyone._ She thought to herself,  _Anyone but Chloe._

And she chanted this over and over and over again while Miss Bustier pulled out the first piece of paper.

Marinette would work with anyone, even people she wasn't too fond of, like Chloe. But  _oh my god,_ the girl didn't work nor did she have to either. If she failed a project because her partner/group couldn't take all of the workload from her slacking, she'd blame it on them and then call her father to further get them in trouble. Marinette seen it first hand and feltit later when they turned into akuma. 

That was _not_ a fun day. 

So as Miss Bustier pulled out the first piece of paper, calling out Ivan, everyone visibly relaxed an inch ( for now ). She called Sabrina's name next, along with Alix and Juleka, Mylène and Nino, Rose and Kim, and Max with Nathaniel. Thus, leaving Alya, Adrien, Chloe, and Marinette left.

Marinette counted the odds against her of getting Chloe.

25% chance of getting the blonde.

The odds were in her favor and Marinette smiled internally about it. Though, she didn't want to wish it on Adrien or Alya either, but she could hope, right? 

"Chloe." Miss Bustier read off the piece of paper, making both Marinette and Alya sink in their seats a bit.

33.33% chance of getting her now. 

_Please not Chloe, Please not Chloe, Pleaaaaaaaaassseee not Chloe._

"And Alya." From the heavy groan of her best friend, melting into the desk in defeat, Chloe's outburst from having to work with the 'wanna-be news person', and Marinette's silent triumph of  _not_ being in her best friend's shoes, she didn't catch that she would be working with Adrien on the French Revolution. Something she definitely needed to worry about. But right now, she was too busy comforting her best friend in her time of need. 

 

\----

"Oh man," Nino started as him and Adrien walked out of the class together. "The temper tantrum that Chloe pulled afterwards was her best yet. I didn't know her face could turn that red!" 

Adrien shrugged, not really interested in talking about Chloe and her outburst. The girl got what she wanted, when she wanted it, and exactly how she wanted it, despite the cries of everyone else. He had enough bruises from the akumas turned because of Chloe to care anymore. 

Though he did felt bad when they left the classroom, both Alya and Chloe getting into an argument about having to work with each other. They were going to stay as mental support for Alya, but decided to leave when Chloe dropped his name in the mix to switch with. 

He'd rather eat a piece of camembert before working with her, honestly, and  _that_ was saying something. 

Speaking of partners, he had Marinette as his. Good, this was a chance to fully talk to her. Since all they did was talk in a few short sentences before she stumbled over her words and avoided him completely. He thought often that she hated him since they first met ( because of Chloe,  _again._ ), but Nino assured him that she did like him and saw him as a friend. Now was his chance to interact with her and really be friends!

Marinette didn't seem disappointed to get him either when he turned around to smile at her. Then again, she didn't look like she heard Miss Bustier at all due to Chloe and Alya. He would have to talk to her soon about it. 

Adrien glanced back at the classroom, right before going down the stairs, and seeing Marinette leaning against the wall next to the door. She looked like she was waiting for Alya to get done with Chloe. 

"Hey," Adrien chimed, getting Nino's attention who was two steps down. "I'm going to talk to Marinette about our project." The way Nino looked at him, with a small smirk and raised eyebrows, made Adrien's cheeks become warm. 

" _Just_ about our project." He clarified, trying to banish any thoughts that the other had.

The accused just simply shrugged, the smirk still playing on his lips, "What ever you say man."

Adrien rolled his eyes before walking back over to Marinette. 

Putting on a smile, he greeted her. "Hi Marinette." 

He seemed to startle the poor girl as she made a noise and jumped a few inches away from him, her hand instantly flying to her mouth and her face turning beet red. 

After a few moments of her regaining her composure, she greeted him back, "H-h-i A-drien." 

"Sorry that I scared you." He tried to reassure her, but failed when her face only got redder and she shook her head quickly, letting out a nervous laugh. 

"W-w-what's u-p?" She mumbled, looking down at her fumbling hands. 

"W-would you like to hang out sometime?" He asked a bit timidly, rubbing the back of his neck as he found asking her to hang out was a bit nerve wracking. And to his horror, Marinette's head shot up suddenly to look at him, her eyes huge and mouth hung open. If it was possible, she turned even more redder than before.

"I-I m-mean," He quickly to recovered, trying to not scare her off forever, "f-for the group project! We have to work on it outside of school if we want to get it done in a week." 

And like a switch, Marinette's eyes turned from shock to curiosity, her head tilting in question. "Project?" 

_Oh how cute._ Adrien thought absently, especially when she freckled nose wrinkled like that.  _Focus Agreste!_

"Y-yea. We were assigned together to work on the French Revolution." Her brows knitted together as she tried to remember the moment. "We were the last two...  _after_ Chloe and Alya."

That seemed to click as Marinette's full lips made a small 'o' in realization. 

_Full lips? Get your head out of the gutter!_ He chastised himself. 

Before they could talk more, Chloe left the classroom with her nose pointed upwards with Alya trailing out afterwards. Oddly enough, they both had the same satisfying smiles on their faces.

Marinette turned her full attention to her best friend, "What happened?" 

Alya grinned ( almost in a Chat-like way, Adrien noted ) in response, "I don't have to work with Chloe." 

Marinette clapped her hands excitedly ( _Too adorable._ ) and hugged Alya, while Adrien gave her a high five.

"How did you manage that?" Adrien asked, his curiosity getting to the best of him.

"Chloe called her dad and _thank god_ that she did for once. She wanted to actually switch with Marinette to work with you, Adrien." Alya caught on to his dismayed expression ( and Marinette's matching expression but Adrien wasn't paying attention to her to see it ) and quickly diminishing it with reassuring words. "Don't worry, Agreste. As much as I would _love_ to work with my girl, Miss Bustier believed we need to work outside from our normal 'cliques'. So instead, I'm working with Ivan and Sabrina is stuck with Chloe."

Adrien let out a sigh in relief that he wasn't subjected to that torture. He would never understand why Sabrina liked doing all of Chloe's work on top of her own work load, but better her than him. 

"Soooo..." Alya chimed in, looking between Adrien and Marinette with the same look that Nino had earlier. "Did I interrupt something?"

Both of them blushed much to the blogger's amusement before Adrien spoke up first, "I was talking to Marinette about getting together to work on the project." 

Marinette nodded fiercely in agreement, but the smirk on Alya's face wouldn't go away. 

"Soo..." Adrien said a bit awkwardly, his hand returning to the back of his neck. "W-would you like to hang out?" 

"Y-yea..." Marinette responded to him with a bit of a smile and Adrien's nervousness melted away into a smile. 

"Cool! Wher-"His phone interrupted him of asking where they wanted to go with a buzz. Pulling it out from his pocket, the first message that he read was from Nathalie asking where he was. 

_Shoot._

"Hey, I have to go, but we'll talk later, okay? Do you have my number?" Adrien quickly asked Marinette as he started to back pedaling towards the stairs. He was making his way down when he heard a small squeak that sounded like a 'Yes'. Not caring how she got his number, he tossed back a smile towards her direction before hurrying down the stairs. 

Adrien heard squealing from the distance when he got to the car and he vaguely thought how that sounded strangely like Alya.

 

\----

After conversing for a few hours the night before hand, they agreed on meeting at a small coffee shop that was about halfway between their houses, much to Plagg's dismay. 

" _Why_ do we have to leave?" The kwami whined with his arms crossed, sitting stubbornly on Adrien's desk. From the looks of it, he wasn't budging anytime soon.

_Such a drama queen._ Adrien thought to himself, rolling his eyes as he buttoned up his shirt.  

"Couldn't you just bring your date here? Where there is plenty of cheese and my bed?" 

"One," Adrien started as he walked out from his closet to his bathroom, making sure his hair and his outfit looked presentable. "It is  _not_ a date -- how do you even know that word? --, she's my partner for a project that we have to do. Two, I do not want to be stuck in this room more than I have to. Father said it was fine and I am not ruining my only chance of getting out when I'm not Chat."

The kwami responded with a huff, turning his back to his charge when Adrien came over to him with his school bag on. 

"Get in the bag, Plagg." 

"No." The cat floated away from Adrien's desk to onto one of his trophy cases. Adrien groaned and looked at the time on his desk. 

"We don't have time for this,  _please_ get in the bag."

The kwami didn't respond, remaining in his spot. 

"If I stuff my bag with camembert, will you come down?" That got the cat's attention when his ear flicked in Adrien's direction. "And I'll give you extra when we get back." 

Plagg thought on it, his eyes blinking in contemplation before shrugging. "Alright..." Adrien fist pumped in the air and eagerly opened his bag for the kwami. "And no Ladybug talk for a whole week unless it's for business purposes."

"What? Why?!" 

"Because you whine too much about her, it gives me a headache." 

" _I_ whine? How about-" Plagg gave him a look, earning a grumble from his charge. "Fine, _Fine_.Just get in the bag already." 

Finally, the cat floated into the model's bag and the boy head out of his room ( stopping by the kitchen first for a moment to snag some extra cheese for Plagg ). 

 

Adrien arrived at the coffee shop way too early. Sure, he  _may_ have lied about the time they were going to meet to Nathalie, but it was not far off from the original time. No harm, no foul. He just wanted some alone time before Marinette arrived. Well, sort of alone as his bag smelt entirely too much like cheese and the munching sounds that accompanied that smell.

Coming up to the counter, Adrien ordered both him and Marinette a drink. He texted Alya before hand, asking what type of drinks that Marinette liked from coffee shops. He couldn't ask Marinette because she would refuse to let him buy her anything as he discovered from last night's texting when he told her that he was buying her a coffee. She cutely (  _Stop it, Adrien!_ ) refused him, but he couldn't be stopped. 

Alya responded back in a few moments, informing him that she liked her coffee with lots of milk and sugar in it. Adrien smiled to himself, thinking how that fit her so well. He ordered the drink, ignoring Alya's next text that just had a winking face to it. 

He didn't understand why everyone was making a huge deal out of it. It was  _just_ a get together to work on a project. He didn't even like her like that, he was in love with Ladybug! He nodded to himself in agreement as he sat down at a small table, setting the drinks down and pulling out his history book. 

It wasn't too long before Marinette showed up, pushing the door open and looking around for him. Adrien flagged her down as she looked in his direction, instantly turning red and giving him a small smile. The girl moved through the maze of tables before sitting down across from him. 

"H-hi." Marinette greeted, placing her bag down next to her. "H-h-ave you been waiting long?"

"Hi!" Adrien chimed, a grin plastered on his face, before shaking his head. "Nope, not at all." 

Pushing over the cup that he got her, the grin still present on his face as she looked at the cup curiously. "For you." 

Marinette's face transitioned from confusion to disbelief as she looked back at him, a pout evident on her lips.

"Adrien! I said no!" Marinette huffed out to him, pushing away the cup as he laughed at her reaction. The boy merely shrugged, continuing to grin.

"Oh well. I got it anyways. This is a present for you for being a great partner!" He pushed the drink back in front of her.

The girl tapped the drink to move back over to him. 

"You've never worked with me as a partner though..." She pointed out gently. 

"Not true. We worked together for the tournament." Adrien countered, the drink now back on her side. 

"That doesn't count."

"It so does." 

" _Adrien_."

" _Marinette._ " 

Adrien scooted the cup over to her, sporting the biggest puppy eyes he could muster. Although, Marinette was giving the mightiest of pouts, making her too adorable that he almost felt bad about getting her the drink.  _Almost._

When she looked over at him, he blinked his eyes once and she sighed heavily before taking the drink he got for her.

"Okay, _okay._ Thank you..." She mumbled in defeat and he mentally cheered in his head. 

2 for 2 today, Agreste in the lead. ( Well, 1.75 to 2 as he counted his win with Plagg as a heavy compromise. No Ladybug gushing for a whole week? Absolute torture! )

Marinette brought the drink to her lips, giving a gentle sip, before placing it down and looking at her text book. "S-so, French Revolution, huh? Wh-what should we talk about for the project?"

"Well, Miss Bustier liked talking about both sides of the revolution. I think we should do that as well! Anarchy versus Monarchy, Citizens versus Royalty, White versus black, all those cool things."

Marinette bobbed her head in approval, though she did scrunch her face just a bit. "Yea, we can do that. But maybe not make it a good versus evil type of deal. Not all the monarchs were bad and not all of the citizens were good. Just like in real life." 

"Not true, Ladybug and Chat Noir are good versus the one guy who makes all of the akumas."

"Well..." Marinette flushed, looking up at Adrien before back down at her book. "Yea, they are good, but-- I don't think the guy who akumatizes everyone is completely bad either."

Now it was Adrien's turn to turn his head to the side in interest. "What makes you say that?"

Marinette blushed under his stare at her and fiddled with the edge of the text book paper, "I-- I don't think he's a bad person at all. I think he's just... angry and he wants to do something about so he doesn't feel that way anymore, while using the akumas as an outlet. People can do terrible things when they're angry, just like the akumas or the citizens during the french revolution. "

Adrien blinked and there was a silence between them, whether it was comfortable or awkward. He thought on what she said and honestly, as one of the city's superheros, he never thought about Papallion or the akumas that way. He always saw it as the akuma is attacking the city, it's bad, and nothing else. Simple, yes, but it made sense to him. But now as he thought it in Marinette's perspective, maybe everything wasn't just white and black, but just a smear of grey everywhere. 

The boy looked back at the girl, seeing her drink her coffee and staring down at the book, he smiled a bit. She would make a good Ladybug. If his lady was ever on a trip or anything happened to her ( never on his watch! ), Marinette would be a great superhero. 

And as he thought about his lady, his Chat side eagerly wiggled it's way out to his lips as he looked down at the page. "I mean," He edge, looking up at Marinette through his eyelashes as she timidly did the same, "these citizens heads really _rolled_ for a piece of bread. Like, these Monarchs stuck their necks out for these people."

 Marinette stared at him, her eyes wide, and Adrien stared back, a chat like grin spreading ever so slowly on his lips. It took a full second for Marinette to respond, and she responded with a groan, much to Adrien's delight. 

"No." Marinette begged him, making Adrien's grin even more wider than humanly possible. "Please,  _stop._ "

"Whatever do you mean Mari? These Monarchs were on a roll and the people just rudely cut them off! How misérable!" If Adrien had his suit on, his tail would definitely be wagging back and forth, smacking the person right next to them, but he didn't even care. He was having way too much fun as the puns kept coming like wildfire and Marinette trying to get him to stop. She even went so far as to put up a book barrier with both of their history books, 'claiming' that she couldn't hear him. But he could tell from her small hiccups of giggles that she loved them secretly. 

During the midst of his excellent pun game, she managed to blow a wrapper of a straw at his face. Adrien paused, looking at her red face in shock before hooting in laughter and returning the favor by shooting one back. They did this and threw sugar packets at each other, fits of laughter and giggles heard from the two. Several of times, the people around them shush them from being too bothersome and they both looked at each other with snickers and giggles. 

After the great condiment war, as Adrien would call it, they finally settled down enough to get their project organized. It didn't take long at all, they worked well together surprisingly. They split the research, Adrien bringing in more ideas of what to talk about while Marienette condensed the list down into important talking points. They both agreed that Marinette would make the PowerPoint ( "Because you're so crafty!" Adrien had commented. ) and Adrien would do most of the speaking ( "It's the model in you." Marinette joked. ).

 After everything was done, the only thing left to do was the presentation itself, this left Marinette and Adrien an hour or so before Nathalie came to get him. Adrien had started telling her one of his outrageous model stories, his smile bright and his hands moving animatedly. 

"And so, when we walk into the studio, we see the photographer and he looks like a mad scientist, Marinette. His hair was sticking out in all directions like he just got electrocuted, I'm pretty sure he was missing a lens from his glasses, and, he wasn't wearing any pants!" 

"What?" Marinette chimed, "You're kidding!"

"And that's not even the worst part either-."

"Wait? No pants is not the worst part?" 

"Oh yes, Mari. He was wearing tighty whiteys!" 

Marinette's blue bell eyes widened before she squealed, covering her now red face and shaking her head to get the mental image out of her mind. 

"Right?!" Adrien laughed, "I have never seen Nathalie's mouth hit the floor that fast in all of my life! We would have left if he wasn't so talented."

"But why no pants??" 

"He said it ' _hinders my free creativity! You should try it once,_ _Monsieur Adrien!'_ "

Her and Adrien burst into spurts of giggles, tears threatening to spill out from their eyes. 

"Photographers, they're crazy. Any person who is willing to drown themselves to get a perfect picture are insane!" 

Marinette's eyes brighten a bit at him, the girl biting her lip before leaning on the table, closer to him. "W-what about designers?" She asked a bit timidly. Adrien looked over at her, smirking a bit at her question before shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. 

"They're so  _crafty._ They like putting extra stuff like buttons, glitter, and doohickeys on just for it to look nice. So over the top, am I right?"

Marinette saw the smugness in Adrien's face and her brow arched upwards, taking his comment as a challenge. She copied the boy, also shrugging her shoulder in the same fashion and matching his smirk.

"You can say models are so melodramatic. They whine about  _everything_."

"Hey! Just because my hair does not go in a certain way and I have to get it redone or I'm not doing the shoot, does  _not_ mean I'm melodramatic."

"Oh really? What does it mean, Agreste?" Marinette challenged his developing pout. 

"It means Dupain-Cheng that-" He paused, narrowing his green eyes at her giggling, Marinette soon coughing and giving him innocent, blinking eyes. His bottom lip puffed out and he crossed his arms, turning away from her as Plagg did earlier to him. "That you're sneaky and unfair. Playing into my model behavior like that..."

"Whatever do you mean?" Marinette gasped, her eyes big but she couldn't seem to hold in her giggles. "After all, I'm so  _over the top._ "

"And rude." He shot back to her, still not looking into those bright blues she was giving him. 

"I'm sorry, did I hurt your model feelings?" She asked, matching his pout in a mocking type way. 

"Yea, you did." The model responded, though there was no truth behind his words.

"I'm sorry."

"No you're not."

"Yea, you're right. Payback for all of those revolution puns." 

"They were funny!" Adrien shot back to her. 

"Oh yea," Marinette shook her head, "You were on a  _roll_ with them." 

Even if Adrien was a great actor, he could keep his pouting facade up when she shot back with a pun. He started laughing and she joined him, their laughs working together in harmony. It took a moment for Adrien to settle back down into controllable giggles and he looked over at his classmate, a smile wide on his lips. He hadn't had this much fun as Adrien in a long time. The only time he recalled having this much fun with someone was his lady and him as chat. The same thing would happen, he would start making jokes and she would jest with him. Some of his fondest memories were during those times and today, definitely made it on his list. 

As he looked over to his giggling classmate, she reminded him more and more of his lady. Marinette was smart, witty, brave, kind, and she was cute, there was no denying it now. It was a shame that it took a project to get them together and talking like this. He thought she hated him. Did she still? He needed to know. 

"Marinette," He started, receiving full attention from the girl as she looked at him with a smile. He paused for a second, marveling her smile, before licking his lips as they were suddenly dry. "Uh--... Do you hate me?"

Marinette's smile faltered and she turned her head to the side with a questioning gaze. "No? Why would I ever hate you?"

"Well," He turned more towards her, his arms folding on the table and his body leaning closer to her. "Up until today, you've never really talked to me. You're always so nervous, as if you're afraid of me..."

"Oh." was all she said, moving away from him with a red face and her eyes trained to look down at her hands. She was reverting back to how she treated him at school and Adrien was not going to happen, especially after today.

"If you're still mad about the gum on the seat, I swear it wasn't me. Chloe was placing the gum on your seat and I-"

"No, I'm not mad about that." She interrupted him, looking up at him through her eyelashes. "I know it wasn't you."

Now that got him puzzled. Did he do something else? Plagg called him annoying from time to time, but that was just  _Plagg._ Or was it? 

"Then why are you afraid to talk to me? Am I annoying?"

"No, no you're not annoying and I'm not mad at you." Marinette assured him, confusing the poor boy further. 

"Then... why?"

"It's just that..." Marinette started, furrowing her eyebrows as she didn't like where she started that sentence and shook her head. "Well... I-"

The girl's face got redder by the second and, out of instinct, Adrien reached out and grabbed her hand, giving her comfort. He shouldn't be pressuring her into saying something she wasn't ready to say, but he wanted to know desperately. If she wasn't afraid of or mad at him, then why? Maybe he knew the answer, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to hear it yet. 

Once he took her hand, she looked down at them with wide eyes, shocked that he grabbed her hand. Marinette looked up at Adrien's encouraging gaze before looking back down, her hand returning his grip just a little. That felt nice. His fingers intertwined with hers ( more comfortable that way, he would claim later ) and while her blush seemed to get darker, his felt his own rise as well. 

"Why?" Adrien asked more softly, his green eyes locking with hers as she looked back up at him again. It seemed like forever until she opened her mouth again, even though it was only a few moments.

"Because I..." Marinette started once more, her voice so soft that only Adrien could barely hear her. Her fingers tighten on his hand and he returned the gesture, gently, of course, and reassuring. 

"Because I l-" And as she was just about to say the words that he thought she was going to say, a voice calling his name interrupted her. 

"Adrien!" Nathalie called after him from the entrance, her eyes peering at the two through her glasses. The two teenagers retracted both of their hands in the instant, their red faces matching each other. Adrien looked over at Nathalie in a guilty expression, which didn't soften her expression. "I've been calling you, young man. We need to go." 

Adrien nodded quickly before looking back at Marinette, her eyes trained on her folded hand under the table. The girl peaked up at him, her mouth opening slightly again.

"Adrien, now." Nathalie finally said, interrupting Marinette again, before walking out towards the car. She didn't wait for him, knowing if she had to come get him again, his father would hear of it. 

"Okay, okay..." Adrien mumbled back at Nathalie as she left before looking back at Marinette and shrugging. "Sorry, I have to go." 

"That's alright." She responded, a smile on her face as they began packing up. "We got all of the project done and we don't have to worry about until next week."

"Yea." Adrien hummed, not hiding his disappointed tone. He wished that they hadn't worked as well as they did so he would have an excuse to hang out with her again. As much as he appreciated his best bud, Nino, he liked having someone else in his civilian life to talk to. Someone new, someone exciting, someone who he'd love to get to know more. 

They both packed their bags and headed out of the coffee shop, making small chatter about the presentation that they have to do. Once they got to Adrien's car, they smiled at each other a bit awkwardly, Adrien's hand finding the back of his neck and Marinette looking down at her hands. 

"So, I'll see you later?" Adrien asked, biting his lip a bit. 

Marinette nodded and responded, "Y-yea... We're going to do great on the project."

Adrien smiled at that. "I know we are." Marinette giggled, brushing her bangs out of her face. 

"Well," She said after a moment, "I'll see you at school."

"Y-yea... See you at school, Marinette." Adrien smiled, waving a bit as a goodbye before heading towards the car. He dragged his feet over, wanting to say something to her about hanging out more outside of school, but he couldn't find the words. He figured it was too late now that he heard her retreating footsteps. Sighing, Adrien opened the door and softly greeted Nathalie. He was about to jump in before he felt a hand on his arm. 

"Hey, Adrien." Marinette said, tugging him to look over at her. He did, with wide, excited green eyes. "I forgot to give you something." 

It was a napkin from the coffee shop. A crumpled napkin that she handed to him. He looked at it with puzzlement before looking back up at her with a questioning gaze.

"Uh, thanks?" 

"A-also," She continued, "Don't forget that we have to meet for the study group for Miss Bustier's class. Whenever your busy schedule has the time, w-we can hang out... if-if you want..."

Study group? He didn't remember signing up for a study group. Adrien brows furrowed, his mouth open to ask her about what study group before she shyly winked at him. Shy Marinette _wi_ _nked_ at him. He felt his heart skip a beat before he finally got what she meant. She was asking if they could hang out.  _She_ was asking  _him._ That mean that she really did like him. 

"O-oh, y-yeah, sure." Adrien responded with a bit of a mumble. She giggled in return. "I'll ask Nathalie later when we can hang out again-- to study. Of course." 

"Of course." Marinette responded with a bit of a smile. 

"I have to go, so--" Adrien edged, feeling Nathalie's impatient aura from inside the car. 

"Alright, see you later,  _melodramatic_ model." Marinette playfully responded as she started to backpedal, causing Adrien to smile brightly. 

"See you on the chopping block,  _over the top_ designer." Adrien winked back at her, her response a gift as she rolled her eyes at his stupid pun but giggled silently. She waved and he waved back, watching her as she turned around and headed back home. As he turned to go into his car, he caught a small glimpse of her peaking back to him with a smile. He returned the smile before hopping into the car, the driver taking off as soon as he closed the door. 

Watching the city of a Paris pass by, Adrien couldn't stop the goofy smile plastered on his face. And all he could think was how more beautiful and bright Paris looked at this very moment. 


End file.
